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wire a 60 gallon 220 air compressor

I recently bought a 60 gallon air compressor. I am installing it in my basement so I need to hook it up. I have had one electrical project in my past, so I am not electrican savy. I can figure stuff out with help.

I was going to run 12 guage wire and use a 220 breaker. The question is the breaker has 2 screws on it for the hot wire. Do I need to run two hots. What about a neutral. I am not hooking up a receptical I am wiring directly to the air compressor. The air compressor has 2 prongs for electricty coming in and the base of the box has a screw for a ground for the conduit or bare ground.

I am confused, if I have to run two hots since my breaker can allow for 2 wires and I need to run a netrual (because that what I would do for a singe pole) how do I hook up 3 wires to 2 prongs on the air compressor.

Like BillHart said, you do not need a neutral to operate this compressor.

But you might consider using a 12-3 w/g cable for this. This would have a black, red, & white wires, plus a bare ground wire.

This would only cost a bit more now, and leaves open the option of using this for a pair of regular 120V outlets in the future.

For your compressor, you would wire the black & red wires to the terminals, and just cover the white wire with a wire nut and leave it unconnected in the box. But if someday in the future you want to change this, you will have the wires for 2 separate 120V outlets at this location.

Easy enough to do this now, and not much more expense. Much easier than retro-fitting it someday in the future, especially if these wires are inside walls or ceilings.